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Kamala Harris attends the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor’s annual Martin Luther King breakfast on Friday, Jan. 14, 2001. The state's first African-American and female attorney general spoke later, vowing to enforce laws on wages and working conditions and fight perpetrators of mortgage fraud. Brian Watt/KPCC

In front of 500 people at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor’s annual Martin Luther King breakfast, the state's first African-American and female attorney general vowed on Friday to enforce laws on wages and working conditions and fight perpetrators of mortgage fraud.

"To fight for justice means to fight for the rights of working men and women in this country," Kamala Harris told the crowd at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers' Union Hall in Commerce. "I stand here proud to have received the support of labor. I stand here proud to stand on the shoulders of those who have fought for the rights of working men and women."

The labor federation event also honored two retired sanitation workers from Memphis. Both Alvin Turner and Baxter Leach participated in the 1968 strike that King helped organize. They also attended King's funeral weeks later.